Nobody
by christinegrrl
Summary: Three years after he left SVU, Elliot Stabler is still hung up over Olivia. Just as he is about to go back and apologize, he finds a little girl, and their lives will never be the same.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is my first fanfiction posted on this site. Please read and review, and leave a comment saying what you think. I am open to any criticism and ideas, and I'm also looking for a beta. If you are interested, please PM me.**

**Warning: Material in this fanfiction might be triggering. However, nothing will be explicit.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters seen on _Law & Order: Special Victims Unit_. Those belong to NBC and Dick Wolf. I only reserve the rights to my own characters.**

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><p><strong>"I'm Nobody! Who are you?<br>Are you – Nobody – too?  
>Then there's a pair of us!<br>Don't tell! they'd advertise – you know!"**

**~ Emily Dickinson**

Chapter 1:

Elliot Stabler walked down the bustling streets of Manhattan, staring at his phone like he had every day for the past three years.

_Olivia._

He knew he should call. Hell, he should have called three years ago. He just couldn't face what he had done. He still couldn't, but admitting that would make him weaker than he already was.

_She must hate me, _he thought. He had been keeping tabs on her, following her cases on the news. He had been so tempted to call her during the William Lewis ordeal, but he had been caught up in the divorce with Kathy. _Kathy was right; in the end, only she mattered._

He passed by her old apartment at least once every two weeks, wishing he could go back to the days where they would sit outside, talking about cases and joking with each other. Sometimes he would think to himself, _Maybe we could go back to that_. _Who am I kidding. She would probably shoot me in the head if she even saw me. A civil conversation would be out of the question._

No one understood why he couldn't go back and talk to her, not Kathy, not the kids, not the therapist he'd talked to. Everyone thought that it was because they were sleeping together, even the shrink.

_I was never unfaithful. I was always a good husband, even when we were divorced. Olivia and I just had a chemistry that Kathy couldn't deal with._

It was true. From day one, they had fallen in sync with each other, finishing each other's sentences, walking in perfect unison. No one had quite understood what it meant, though most jumped to the same conclusion. It had almost cost them their jobs plenty of times.

Elliot was walking back to his apartment from his job at the local gym. He had always been muscular, so when they were advertising, he stepped up. It gave him something to do, something to occupy his mind, at least for a few hours a day. It also helped him pay his rent, since Manhattan apartments were definitely not cheap, and his pension alone couldn't cover everything.

The route he took avoided the absolute busiest streets, leaving him alone - for New York City standards. He could hear yelling in one of the side streets, two middle-aged men surrounding something. Just as he was about to continue his journey of wallowing in self-pity, he heard a younger, softer voice that surely could not have belonged to either of the two men.

"Please, you don't have to pay, just please leave me alone. I don't want to."

The two men wouldn't back down. "C'mon, I know you like it. You're a little whore." "No one likes a whiner, so just take your _present_ like a good girl."

He couldn't help it. He still had the instinct to go after whoever thought it was okay to take advantage of little kids.

"Hey, leave her alone," he called out to them, going further into the dark little alleyway. He could see the girl now, fear on her young, thin face. She was so pale and skinny she looked like she was going to pass out.

"Hey, what's the hurry, man? You'll get your turn. Can't you wait a couple of minutes?" The taller one said, angrily. Elliot could see the way he was holding her head against the wall, and realized what would happen if he let this continue any longer.

The men had yet to have a good view of him, since the passageway was dimly lit. Once he came into their view, they immediately started to hesitate, apologizing. He could see their grip on the girl slacken a bit as their fear permeated the air. "I said, leave her alone." He took another menacing step forward, and they started backing away with their hands in their air, as if surrendering to him. Once they had reached a distance seemingly sufficient to which he could not hurt them, they turned and ran off.

Elliot turned his attention back to the girl, who looked even more afraid than when he had first entered the scene. Now that they were gone, and he had done his job, _Why,_ he thought, _am I still here?_

"I'll do whatever you want, sir," whispered the girl. "You won't have to pay, I promise. Just... Thank you."

She was avoiding eye contact, as though she felt inferior to him. The "sir" also bothered him quite a bit. After all his years at Special Victims, he could read people and situations fairly easily.

"You don't have to thank me, and you don't have to do anything for me. I just want to help you." He tried to step closer to her, but she flinched. She immediately looked up, horrified with what she had just done.

"I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean to. It was an accident. Please don't hurt me," she ended with a whisper. She had finally gotten a good view of him, and she realized why the other men had been intimidated. His stature and bulging muscles were enough to scare even professional football players.

"I'm not going to hurt you, I promise." Elliot began to realize that she was more traumatized than he had originally believed. This fear seemed to have stemmed from something far more powerful and terrifying than the attempted sexual assault he had just witnessed.

He knew he couldn't leave her out on the streets; some other person would surely find her, and there was no guarantee that someone else would step in. He considered his other options: He knew this was a case for SVU if ever there was one, but the way she was acting, he knew she would never agree to talking to the police about her situation.

"My apartment is about five minutes away from here. Would you like to spend the night?" He cringed at his wording, which had done nothing to ease the little girl's fears. He opened his mouth to clarify.

"For-for the whole night?" she questioned. She seemed confused, like this was such a foreign request.

"However long you want. If you don't feel comfortable-"

"Oh, no! Whatever _you _want, sir," she interrupted quickly, as if attempting to correct his assumption that was so horrid to her.

Elliot shook his head. _She still thinks I want sex. She's still scared that I am going to hurt her if she doesn't do exactly what I want._

He approached her slowly, calmly, and then kneeled down to her level, making sure not to box her in so that she felt threatened. He spoke slowly and clearly, "I am not going to hurt you. I don't want sex. All I want is to make sure that you have a warm place to sleep for the night where you aren't afraid that someone is going to take advantage of you. If you are uncomfortable, you _do not_ have to come with me. This is _your_ choice."

She looked up in disbelief, almost ready to accept, and then looked down, whispering, "Whatever you want, sir."

He sighed. _She's been trained to have no opinions, no choice, to think that she is inferior. _He needed to correct this belief, to teach her that she has rights, that she can say no.

Looking at her clothing, which consisted of a short skirt, skimpy shirt, and nothing covering her feet, he asked, "Do you have anything else to wear?"

"No, sir, not at the moment. Master would prefer me not to return back to the House until morning, but I could go back and change, if you'd like."

"No, it's fine. You just look a bit cold; those clothes aren't really ideal for fall." _Master?_

"I'm fine." She was quick to correct any assumption of his that would imply that she had needs, he noticed. "Sir."

"Here, take my jacket." He shrugged it off, handing it to her. She took it skeptically.

"What would you like me to do with it? Would you like me to fold it, sir?"

He looked back at her in disbelief. "You can put it on, if you'd like."

"Are you sure, sir? I'm not cold, I promise."

"Please, put it on." The coat concealed her arms and most of her legs, but her feet were still uncovered. "Why aren't you wearing shoes?"

"Oh, Master doesn't let me. He thinks women are more attractive with bare feet," she replied matter-of-factly.

He continued with this game of questions and answers. Whatever would get her talking. "What would happen if you were to wear shoes, then?"

Her face turned dark, her eyes cold. "I would get punished." She seemed to think about this, and then recited, as if she'd heard it countless times, "I'm a bad girl, sir. I deserve to be punished."

Elliot put his hands under her chin and gently lifted her head to meet his eyes. "You do not deserve that. You have done _nothing wrong_."

She shook her head, tears in her eyes. "Yes I have. I bothered you, I convinced you not to let me serve you, I tricked you into letting me come home with you, I took your jacket, I-"

"No. You didn't bother me, you didn't trick me, you didn't take anything from me. Sweetheart, I just want to help you."

She flinched at the word "sweetheart", and the spark in her eyes that had been there before went away, and she went back into submission. "If that's what you want, sir. Thank you."

He sighed. "You... You're welcome. Shall we go now?"

"If you want to, sir. I apologize for delaying you."

As they started walking to his apartment, Elliot was pondering the girl's erratic behavior. _One minute she's fine and talking like a normal person, the next she's apologizing for having done absolutely nothing. Her 'Master' abuses her, that's clear. He probably has her working on the streets to earn money. No wonder she is so afraid of me._

Elliot stopped in the middle of the street, realizing something. "Could you please tell me your name?"

"It's whatever you want it to be, sir." She seemed confident and a little seductive with this answer, as if she had practiced it many times before.

"But what's your real name?"

"...I'm not sure."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you so much for all the positive reviews, favorites, and follows. I appreciate any and all who are reading this. I'm sorry for not posting sooner, but I have been busy with school. I will try to put up another chapter as soon as possible, though.**

**Special thank you to my beta, K.E.B.123. Please head over and read her stories, they are amazingly written, and she has helped a lot with making this chapter better.**

**Disclaimer: Again, I own no characters seen on the show. I only own my characters.**

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><p>"<strong>The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." ~Lao Tzu<strong>

Chapter 2: The First Step

_She doesn't know her name._

_She doesn't know her own name._

_No one's called her by her given name in years._

_How could you degrade a person like that? Not letting her have a name for herself?_

The fury in Elliot's eyes was prominent as he walked down the street towards his apartment, so no one dared question why a young girl with no shoes was following him through the streets. At first the girl, who was unable to understand why he was mad, thinking that anger was directed towards her, was hesitant to follow him, but she did nonetheless.

He led her into the building that housed the tiny closet of an apartment he called home. The elevator was old and creaky, and the stairs were so dimly lit that he had tripped over them many a time before. After pondering which would be best, he opted for the elevator, deciding it looked less daunting and would give her bare feet a break from all the walking she had surely done.

The silence was deafening, interrupted only by her weak coughs, which she desperately tried to hide. After being out in the cold weather with barely any clothing, she would most definitely have become sick, however she continued to conceal her coughs. He suspected it was because she lived in fear of punishment for having basic human needs.

He couldn't bring himself to talk to her. He was afraid she would think he was just trying to take advantage of her. _It's not like she already thinks that, dumbass._

The two got out of the elevator when it reached his floor and walked down the dark hall until they reached his apartment. He felt paranoid as he looked around the hallway, before he unlocked the door to his tiny, one bedroom apartment. He knew his neighbors would assume the worst, and he didn't want them to get suspicious of his intentions in bringing a girl home. _Why am I acting like this? I haven't committed any crime. I'm trying to help her._

_But what if your neighbors see you and call the police?_

_They won't. I'm not doing anything wrong. Who am I kidding? This whole scenario is technically illegal. I brought her here under false pretenses. She thinks I'm paying her for sex. That's illegal, Elliot._

A loud gasp pulled him from his thought. He looked up to see the girl running around his apartment with amazement, marveling at what he knew to be cheap, secondhand furniture. There was very little that separated the kitchen from the living room, and he was pretty sure that the corner by the fridge housed a small family of rodents. His bed barely fit in the bedroom down the hall, and the shower in his bathroom was so rusty he was sure it had been installed in the 40s, and hadn't yet been replaced.

"_This _is where you live?" she asked, seemingly impressed.

He was unsure of how to answer. "Yes…"

"Wow. A-And it's all yours? And it has heating?!"

He shook his head, bewildered. _Has this girl never stayed in a heated house before?_

She stopped running around and suddenly dropped to her knees. He ran over to check on her and make sure that she wasn't hurt, when she said quietly, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make such a fuss. Thank you for allowing me to stay here for the night, sir. I very much appreciate it, and I will be sure to make it up to you however you want."

He sighed. "What do I have to do to convince you that I don't want to use you for sex? You don't have to do anything to stay here tonight. You don't have to pay, in money or in anything else. You do not have to thank me!" By the end he was shouting, causing her to cower in the corner.

"I'm sorry, sir. Please don't get so angry. I'm really sorry. I didn't realize I had upset you so much. Please don't hurt me." Her panicked whispers became more and more difficult to hear as her breathing became more sporadic and her coughing intensified.

Elliot took a deep breath. Once he had calmed down a bit, he started to speak softly and slowly, "Okay. It's okay. Just breathe. Breathe slowly. Calm down, okay. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm sorry; I didn't mean to make you so upset. Just calm down, okay? I promise I'm not going to hurt you. I won't get mad again, I promise. I'm sorry. Okay? Are you okay?"

She started to breathe normally again. She seemed calmer than before, and the coughing had died down quite a bit.

_She's obviously sick and traumatized. What, do you just want to scare her more? Do you want her to think that you're a bastard who hurts women to get off? She's obviously scared of men, and then you go and yell at her. Great fucking job! She needs medical attention and therapy. You keeping her in your apartment and letting her go in the morning isn't going to help her. You should know what to do. You worked SVU._

_What would Olivia do?_

"Do you want to go to a hospital?" he asked. "They can help you. You can report this to the police…"

"No! Please don't make me go there! They're evil. They don't want to help me. They'll just turn me in for prostitution, and then I'm in big trouble. Master wouldn't like it if I was arrested. Please don't make me go." She looked at him imploringly, afraid that he would ignore her pleas and take her to the hospital anyway.

"Okay, okay. You don't have to go to a hospital. How about reporting it to the police?" At this point, he was just hoping to get her some form of help.

"No. They'll either arrest me, or just say that I was asking for it, dressing like this, asking for money, getting paid for having sex with other guys..."

Elliot was shocked. "You've been to the police before and _that's _what they told you?" _This isn't right. If all my years at SVU have taught me anything, it's that it is never the victim's fault._

"Yeah. I mean, I guess they're right. Right?"

He shook his head. "No, absolutely not. No one has the right to be raped, or forced to do something they don't want to do. It doesn't matter what clothes you were wearing, if you were drunk, unconscious, if you said yes and then changed your mind, if you're getting paid. It doesn't matter. If the guy doesn't stop after you say no, it is rape, it is sexual assault. It is a crime. Do you understand?"

She seemed uncertain, hesitant. "I guess so."

"Those police were wrong. Okay, I used to be a police officer, and I worked at Special Victims," he explained. He hoped telling her about his past experience would get her to trust both the police and him. "I still know some people there, and I know they can help you, and… Are you okay?"

She gulped. "You were a police officer?"

"Yes, but-"

"Please don't turn me in, sir." She threw herself at his feet, and with pleading eyes, continued, "I'll do whatever you want, I promise. Please, the police don't need to know. Okay? You can get out the handcuffs, whatever. I don't mind. But please don't turn me in!" She was distressed, sobbing, thrashing about.

He leaned down. "I'm not going to turn you in, okay? I just want to help you. The people at Special Victims, they want to help you as well. They would _never _say anything like what those other officers said. It's up to you, but just keep that in mind. I'm not going to force you to do anything you aren't completely comfortable with. I promise you that. If you want them to help stop this guy, they will. It is up to you, okay? No pressure."

_No pressure my ass. You basically just told her that she's going to have to talk to the police, the one thing that she fears, maybe even more than her 'Master', if she wants your help or anyone else's._

"Can I think about it, please, sir?" She seemed to be considering it quite a bit.

"Of course. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make it seem like you have to talk to them or anything. I really mean it when I say this is up to you."

She nodded skeptically. "Of course, sir."

He wanted to change the subject, to take her mind off of the reality that she needed to talk to the police, even if that meant they could potentially arrest her. "You seem a little sick. Have you been outside a lot lately?"

"Yes, sir. Master was displeased with my behavior over the weekend, so he sent me to work outside for the week. I… I need to bring back at least five thousand dollars by the end of the week in order to go back to working inside." She whispered the last sentence, ashamed of her seemingly blatant begging for his money.

"Okay, and how much do you have so far?" he asked, trying to see if there was any way he could help her out. _At least we're getting somewhere._

"Um, none…? Those guys that you saved me from took all of the money I had earned. What are you doing?"

He was reaching in his pocket to get out his wallet. "Five thousand?" he asked, opening his wallet and pulling out a stack of bills from the check he had just cashed. "Okay, here's one thousand, and tomorrow I can go to the bank to get the rest. Is that okay with you?" _I am not going to let that creep hurt her because she is too weak to defend herself against two stronger men. She can stay here for the rest of the week, and then she can take the money she should have earned as compensation for lost time._

She looked so confused. "I guess? I mean, no. It's okay. You don't have to pay. In fact, I should be paying you. You aren't making me do anything for you, at least you haven't yet, and you're giving me a place to stay for the night. I really appreciate that. You definitely don't have to pay. Tomorrow, I can go out and work to pay off whatever you think I should give you after tonight. Is that okay? Or, I could leave now. It's up to you; whatever you want, sir."

"You don't have to pay me. You don't have to go back out there if you don't want to. Okay, you can stay here the whole week. I won't mind, and you won't have to do anything, no payment, no sex. Nothing. Let me give you this money, okay? I'm paying you for your time. That's what you do, right? You give guys your time to do whatever they want. All I want is to talk to you. Just talk. You think we can do that?"

"If that's what you want, sir." She stared down at the worn floor, unable to look him in the eye.

"That's what I want. Now, is that what you want? Because that's more important to me. What _you _want is important. Never forget that, okay?"

"Okay. I'd like that. Thank you, sir."

"Please don't call me 'sir'. I'm not in charge of you, okay? _You _are in charge of yourself. You _do not _have to call me 'sir'."

"Okay. Then what would you like me to call you?"

"My name is Elliot." He offered her a small smile.

She smiled back. "Thank you, Elliot."


End file.
